Thirteenth conference in the Aula Árabe Universitaria 5 series, to be given by Bishara Ebeid, a professor at the Università Ca’Foscari in Venice.

The Qur’an contains several passages which speak about the annunciation, birth and life of Jesus (such as Suras 2, 3, 4, 5 and 19), and it even speaks of him as the Anointed One, the son of Mary, a messenger of God, his word and a spirit descended from Him (4:171). On the other hand, it contains statements that can be considered contrary to the main Christian beliefs about Jesus. Christian authors writing in Arabic in the era of early Islam, who knew these Qur’anic words, used the text of the Qur’an to dialogue with Islam about the Christian faith and also to provide textual proof of their apologetic intentions. However, could the Qur’an, which came chronologically later than the message of Jesus, be considered by these authors to carry some sort of divine inspiration? Can it be read it in the light of Christ as the early Christian authors did with the Old Testament? This conference by Professor Bishara Ebeid, a scholar of both the Qur’an and Christian theology written in Arabic, will attempt to answer these questions using texts by early Christian Arabic authors.

Organized with the cooperation of the Master’s degree in Christian and Classical Literature at the Universidad San Dámaso. Participating and presenting the speaker will be Pilar González Casado, a tenured professor from the San Justino Christian and Classical Literature School and professor of Arabic and Coptic Language, and Christian Arab Literature at that university. Moderated by Olivia Orozco, Casa Árabe’s Training and Economics Coordinator.

Bishara Ebeid is an assistant professor and researcher at the Università Ca’Foscari of Venice in the Department of Asian and North African Studies where he teaches Arabic Literature and Language. He holds a PhD in Theology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2019) and in Oriental Ecclesiastical Sciences from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome (2014). He has also been a visiting professor at this same Pontifical Institute, and at other centers of learning like the Scuola Superiore per Mediatori Linguistici in Padua, the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Rome, the Faculty of Theology of Apulia and the Gregorian University in Rome, where he has taught courses on Theology and Christian Arabic Literature.

He participates in different international projects on the transmission of Greek Philosophy and its reception in Syriac and Christian Arab authors (ERC, FLOS) as a researcher, as well. His publications focus on the field of Christian Arabic Literature, Apocryphal Literature, the transmission of Greek Philosophy, Eastern Patrology, Biblical Exegesis, Theology, the History of Eastern Christianity, interpretation of the Qur’an and Islam-Christian dialogue. Some of his most notable recent publications include: Chapters on the divine theology - long version (Ca’ Foscari University, 2024); “The Divine Substance as Aristotle’s Substantia Prima: Yaḥyā b. ʿAdī and his Trinitarian Doctrine”, Le Museon, vol. 136 (2023); y “Patristic Tradition, Trinitarian Doctrine, and Metaphysics in Abū Rāʾiṭah al-Takrītī’s Polemics against the Melkites,” found in Florilegia Syriaca: Mapping a Knowledge-Organizing Practice in the Syriac World (Brill, 2023). He has also had articles published in the journal Awraq (nº 12, 2015),“Christians in the Holy Land: Testimonial history,” as a result of his participation in the days titled “Orient and the Arab world: Third Arab Christian Literature Days,” organized by Casa Árabe and the Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso from April 15 to 17, 2015.

Further information: https://en.casaarabe.es/eventos-arabes/show/qur%E2%80%99anic-texts-used-by-medieval-christian-arabic-authors